


The Frenzy

by XaviaAndromedovna



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Angst, Consent Issues, Felix Being a Dick, Fuck Or Die, Jossed, Multi, PTSD, Rape Recovery, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sex Pollen, rape jokes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 11:49:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10616319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XaviaAndromedovna/pseuds/XaviaAndromedovna
Summary: The Temple of Procreation might sound fun in theory, but in practice it's a nightmare.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the "temple of procreation" square on the Medic card for RvB Bingo Wars. I was just gonna write a light comedy piece but then my conflicted feelings about the trope got in the way so here have some angst.

”Tucker did it,” Caboose says automatically, though in this case he might be onto something.

“Guys, I swear this wasn’t me!” Tucker’s expression is nervously serious. Wash knows this because as far as he can see no one is wearing their armor. In fact, everyone is naked.

“You’re the only one with a key!” shouts Simmons from underneath Grif, who had immediately passed out after… well…

“No I’m not! Locus has Doyle’s, remember? Plus, I’m pretty sure I didn’t have enough time to get all the way from the temple to here before it kicked in.”

“Why would Locus activate the Temple of Procreation?” Granted, Locus is rather mysterious, but activating the Temple of Procreation is not something Wash would exactly consider to be the mercenary’s style. In fact, it seems much more like something Felix would do. Felix, the key’s previous owner. Son of a bitch.

Tucker has been talking all through Wash’s revelation. “I dunno, dude’s creepy, maybe he has a secret orgy kink and wanted to watch us fuck our brains out. Who knows?”

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter, what matters is that it’s over. Is everyone alright? Anyone still feeling the… urges?”

Tucker, ever the king of poor taste, chimes in with “I mean if you wanna do that thing again with your tongue I wouldn’t be upset, Bow Chicka Bow Wow!” Wash shakes his head, muttering under his breath as he puts on his bodysuit. “Oh come on, relax dude, it’s nothing we haven’t all seen by this point.”

“Tucker,” Wash warns in his Freelancer voice, “not now. Everyone get dressed and meet in the conference room in fifteen minutes for a debrie—umm… to talk about what happened.” He doesn’t even bother putting on his armor, just picks it up and carries it with him back to his bunk. The last thing he needs is to have a flashback in front of his team.

~~~

It had started slowly at first. After defeating the last of Charon and tending to their wounded (and the many, many dead), the atmosphere in Chorus was surprisingly boisterous. Some pockets of the planet were unerringly somber, but there were also several celebrations throughout the night, some of which involved drunken revelry and more than a little debauchery. The areas where those parties raged strongest were least affected by what the settlers came to call The Frenzy. The next day was tense, and not only because of the mass burials and funeral services, soldier-citizens mourning all they had lost not just in the previous firefight but Armonia, the past few years, the futility of war. There was also an undercurrent of frustration, people taking out their grief on those they cared about most more so than usual. As the third day went on however, many of the residents of Chorus started to notice that their frustrations were decidedly sexual. Those already in sexual relationships were able to resolve The Frenzy fairly quickly and thought nothing of it. For everyone else, it was interfering in their day to day life.

By the third day, Dr. Grey’s office was inundated with soldiers reporting anxiety, trouble concentrating, disturbing thoughts, irritability, and also several sexual identity crises. When she saw the pattern, she clapped in glee at how hilariously anachronistic her diagnosis was: they all had hysteria. Of course, medical ethics had advanced considerably since the 19th century, and she had absolutely no intention of reviving the traditional treatments. Nevertheless, she did instruct many embarrassed patients to go get laid per doctor’s orders.

News spread around the base that some sort of sexual craze was going around, and it led to some interesting combinations. While those who succumbed early to The Frenzy received some startled and teasing reactions, by day four it was commonplace to walk in on a couple (or sometimes four or five people) getting down. Public sex stopped being taboo and started being more a mild annoyance, especially for team leaders trying to convince sex-crazed subordinates to pay attention to their jobs and not their… other ‘-jobs’.

After an apparent five-way during a routine training session with Wash and the captains, it became clear that the culprit was the Temple of Procreation. Tucker went to the temple to get some answers, but Santa told him it was already too late and that it needed to run its course. Santa also confirmed their fears that Felix had activated it right before the big fight as one last fuck you to the people of Chorus. Literally.

By day 5, most of the base had gone through The Frenzy. ~~Grey was more than happy to go through it with Sarge on a gurney, and another gurney when the first one broke.~~ Luckily, it seemed that The Frenzy only heightened already existing attractions, so pairings tended to stay in line with orientations (leading to a mass wave of outings that absolutely no one commented on out of respect and out of fear of Kimball’s wrath), and the asexuals breathed a collective sigh of relief before continuing with their duties. The other lucky discovery was that it would pass after three orgasms. Not so luckily, non-humanoids were not immune, though Doc and Donut quickly volunteered to assist Lopez through his Frenzy. He turned them down flatly and instead took Freckles out of Caboose’s hands and shut the door to his room. Emily still blushes every time she hears Freckles’ confetti noise.

The people of Chorus processed the strange occurrence each in their own way. There was a general consensus that while consent was certainly compromised that week, given how widespread it was the damage calculation and grieving process needed to be figured out on an individual basis. Some people went on with their lives as it if it was nothing out of the ordinary. Others in fact found it to be just the switch-up they wanted and needed. Some groupings required a little more discussion and navigation of whether or not they were interesting in continuing what the Frenzy started.

For many others though, especially survivors from previous incidents of rape or sexual assault and those who felt violated by this event, The Frenzy brought up a lot of old wounds and created others. Kimball offered immediate reassignments to anyone who wanted them, no questions asked. A great deal of resources went to acknowledging and uplifting the stories of survivors and creating dialogues around how to move forward. Dr. Grey’s case load grew significantly, but oddly out of the Temple of Procreation debacle came a much healthier approach to consent and sexual assault activism from the government. The shared experience of not being in control of one’s body made it easier to rid Chorus of rape culture and make the planet safer for survivors. That said, the people of Chorus didn’t hesitate to destroy the Temple once its role was established. Still, it took a lot of time to heal the wounds of The Frenzy, and she had to quickly train her nurses to assist her and Doc in counseling an entire planet of people with PTSD between this and the war. She had her work cut out for her, but if there’s anything Emily relishes it’s a challenge.

~~~

Wash has a very hard time being in the same room as the captains for the first month after The Frenzy. To be fair, he doesn’t see Grif and Simmons all that much anyway, as they declared themselves “on their honeymoon” and haven’t left their bunk in a week except for bathroom breaks and frequent trips to the mess hall. And Caboose’s complete nonchalance about the whole ordeal makes it easier for Wash to fall back into a functional relationship with him; say what you want about how difficult Caboose is to handle, but he at least has the tact not to bring up that ordeal around Wash.

Tucker has no such scruples. Actually, Tucker’s the one Wash can’t stand being around.

Apparently after the first couple weeks, he got the hint that Wash was avoiding him, and he thankfully kept his distance, but one day he corners Wash in his bunk and demands to know what’s going on. “Look, I know The Frenzy was weird and all, but you can’t avoid me forever. It’s been a month, what’s going on?”

Wash sighs. His Kimball-mandated therapist (AKA Dr. Grey) and he have been working on what he would say to Tucker when this conversation came, but in the moment he can’t bring himself to say what he needs to out loud. “It’s nothing, just drop it.”

“Dude, it’s not nothing! Tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it!”

“You can’t fix it,” he replies flatly. “It’s not your problem, it’s mine.” He pushes past Tucker and starts off towards his post.

“Did I rape you?” Wash stops in his tracks. He’s not ready for this conversation, definitely not ready for Tucker to ask it with such rawness. “Because you’re uncomfortable around the others but you at least talk to them, and everytime _I’m_ near you you tense up and snap at me for joking around like I always do. At first I thought you were just embarrassed but I’m starting to think you’re actually mad at me.”

He doesn’t breathe. He doesn’t allow himself to dissociate. He _doesn’t_ turn to face Tucker. Instead, he focuses all his energy into the response he rehearsed. It sounds somewhat robotic but it gets the job done. “Yes, that was rape, but I also recognize you were just as incapable of consent at the time. I’m not mad at you, just triggered. I need some time to process. Please respect my boundaries.”

Tucker says nothing for several agonizing seconds. Just as Wash is about to turn around to see if he’s still there, he clears his throat to speak. “Okay. Yeah that’s… that’s fair. Umm… I’m gonna go talk to Kimball and see if she can reassign me somewhere else. Take all the time you need. But if you ever wanna, you know, talk about it or whatever, I’m here.”

Wash releases a stuttering breath, grateful to have made it to the other side of this conversation. “Thank you.”

”Yeah, no problem, dude. And, for what it’s worth, I’m— I shouldn’t’ve made fun of you afterwards. That wasn’t cool of me. So… yeah. See you around.” When he hears the sound of Tucker’s footsteps fade into nothing, he contemplates going to his post but he knows that Kimball and Grey would just send him back to his bunk anyway. He shuts the door, turns off the light, and lets the panic envelop him.


End file.
